Bulletproof
by a unique solution
Summary: Shizuo regrets a lot of things. Especially things to do with Orihara Izaya. In fact, Shizuo pretty much regrets every decision he's ever made regarding his archenemy, including sparing his life. Now, he's stuck waiting, while the people around him try to piece together the identity of a man insane enough to put a hit out on both himself and Izaya. And Shizuo hates waiting. Shizaya.
1. Chapter 1

-Bulletproof-

Oh, hi. A few words of warning to the reader: this story is sort of centered around a really cliched trope, and I won't tell you what it is because I'm a bastard like that, but um, don't be upset later on when it comes up. Also, this was pretty much written for my own entertainment, so it might get a little bit silly at times, even though it is supposed to be SRS BSNS HARDCORE PLOT-DRIVEN DRAMU (well, kind of). Also also, I am going to use Japanese suffixes and phrases whenever I find it apt to use them (it won't be too often, I promise), so if that bugs you, then uh... too bad. That is all.

Disclaimer etc: I don't own anything.

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The bright, unearthly glow of fluorescent lamps saturated the streets of Ikebukuro, creeping along the concrete, lighting the roads for the young and the sleepless. A few drunken delinquents, reeking of cheap cologne and cigarette smoke, stumbled through the area, giddy in their intoxication. They sauntered along behind a young lady, slurring obscene compliments and barking out loud laughter. In her nervousness, the girl began to walk more briskly; she was only ten minutes away from the subway station, but her fear grew as she heard their uneven footsteps picking up pace behind her. Breaking out into a run, she hurried around a corner, then down an alleyway, and crouched behind a large trashbin, waiting for them to pass her by.

Soon enough she heard them cursing and arguing amongst themselves, blaming one another for having lost 'that hot chick in the slutty dress'. She blushed furiously, but remained silent; her dress wasn't that provocative, was it?

"Whatever man, I'm gonna go take a piss in that alley," one of them grumbled in an annoyed voice. The woman stifled a fearful gasp as she heard him walking in her direction. Glancing behind her, her heart sank as she realized the alleyway was fenced off on the other end; she could only sit there and hope he didn't see her. She watched in dread as his shadow grew ever closer with each passing moment, swaying slightly from his inebriation.

In the next few seconds, however, something odd happened. The woman wasn't exactly sure how it happened, but there was no doubt in her mind that it had happened. A soda vending machine had somehow flown straight through the chainlink fence at the end of the alleyway, nearly slamming into the man who was only steps away from her hiding spot. The woman stood up immediately, and saw that her pursuer had fallen over in bewilderment. Eyes wide in shock, she whipped her head around and looked in the direction of the fence, and without a second thought, bolted for it, slipping her heels off so that she could run unhindered.

A young man heading in the opposite direction passed her by as she was running, but in her panic, she paid him no heed. It wasn't until she was nearly at the end of the alleyway that she saw another man come into view, with a second vending machine impossibly held up above his head. For a moment, he looked as if he was about to throw it at her, and she let out a horrified shriek.

Shizuo's mind skidded to a halt when he heard the girl's high-pitched scream. He blinked at her, as if confused by her presence, then frowned, and shot her an irritated glare.

"What the hell? Get out of the way!" He growled, without lowering his arms, and the girl stared at him fearfully before nodding once and dashing away.

"My, Shizu-chan, what a gentleman you are!" A grating voice called out from across the alley, and Shizuo gave a furious roar as he threw the vending machine forward with all his might. He ran after the projectile, having heard it collide with the concrete, which definitely was not his intended target. Glancing left and right at the end of the alley, Shizuo spotted that loathsome flea gleefully skipping away into the crowded streets. Cursing under his breath, Shizuo pushed through the mass of bodies, knocking a few people over in his haste. And, as the bystanders began to realize that they were in the way of Heiwajima Shizuo, they quickly parted, not at all eager to lose their lives just yet.

Of course, being the wonderfully talented genius that he was, Izaya merely stepped aside with the frightened civilians, ducking behind a taller man. Izaya had to stifle a laugh as he watched Shizuo run right past him. At the intersection Shizuo stopped, whirling around in confusion and fists clenched in rage, and Izaya simply had to indulge him. Stepping out directly into view, Izaya waved a hand at the blond cheerfully.

"Getting ahead of ourselves are we, Shizu-chan?" Izaya said in what he considered his most charming tone, which sent Shizuo sprinting at full speed towards him, a crooked street sign already in hand. Smirking in amusement, Izaya gracefully sidestepped the deadly projectile, and rushed off in another direction.

Their chase led them down winding streets, across the roofs of buildings, and at one unfortunate point, through a department store. They had left the busy city streets long ago and were now encroaching on industrial areas. Hiding in a leafy tree to catch his breath, Izaya idly wondered if Shizuo even knew who it was that was paying for all the destruction and mayhem that he caused. Because those damage fines were certainly not just magically disappearing! Huffing at Shizuo's lack of appreciation (or, more likely, lack of intelligence), Izaya watched the street corner expectantly, waiting for the other man to come into view.

After a few minutes and no sign of the brute, Izaya began to pout. Had Shizuo given up already? It had barely even been an hour!

"Well, that won't do at all," Izaya sighed to himself, as he lowered himself from the tree branch, brushing off a few twigs that had snagged on his coat. Not two seconds later, a heavy trashcan blindsided him, sending him sprawling across the concrete. Gasping in pain, Izaya clutched a hand to his ribs, somehow still managing to stagger to his feet. where the hell had that come from? Had Shizuo been hiding somewhere as well, waiting for Izaya to show himself? A smile twisted Izaya's lips; such sneaky tactics coming from Shizuo were simply unheard of! Perhaps he was finally learning a thing or two. Izaya hummed contentedly, merely watching as the other man drew closer. Shizuo approached him ever so slowly, looking entirely like a predator who already knew his prey was done for. Izaya suddenly started to laugh, which hurt terribly, but he just couldn't contain his mirth any longer. Did Shizuo really think he had won so easily? Oh, this was just too good...!

Shizuo stopped in his tracks for a moment, disturbed by Izaya's inappropriate reaction. "The fuck are you laughing about?" He demanded, wishing there was something else around to throw at the infuriating man. He didn't want to get too close, and was biding his time, waiting for Izaya to make the next move; injured or not, Izaya probably wouldn't think twice about gutting him with that stupid little knife of his. Izaya paused, his eyes glimmering with a maniacal light, and gave Shizuo a toothy grin. Shizuo gave him a scathing look in return.

Glancing at the discarded trashcan he had thrown, Shizuo decided it was probably safer to just chuck the thing at Izaya until he couldn't get up again. Yet, in the mere seconds that it had taken for him to formulate this plan, Izaya had already turned and ran. Still, Shizuo could tell from his slightly uneven steps that Izaya was probably more injured than he let on. A burst of adrenaline flooded through Shizuo's veins, and he couldn't help but smirk to himself as he gave chase. All these years, and it was finally coming to an end.

A few minutes later, they came to a long, straight path, and Izaya was beginning to get a bit winded. Shizuo saw his chance; ripping a signpost from the street, he took a deep breath and aimed carefully. Time seemed to slow down. He would probably remember this moment for the rest of his life...

The first gunshot didn't even register in Shizuo's mind.

The second, however, did, as it had gone straight through his thigh, and his nerves informed him that he was wounded by flaring to life painfully. What the hell? Shizuo's fingers dug into the metal of the signpost as he whirled around to look for the source of this uncalled for assault, and he just barely felt a bullet graze by his head. Shit. He ducked, quickly scrambling to cover in the alcove of a nearby building. The wound in his leg was gushing blood, and Shizuo gritted his teeth- not from the pain, but rather, in anger. This was seriously pissing him off. He had just lost the opportunity of a lifetime. Shizuo dared to lean out from his cover to see if Izaya was even around anymore. If this mystery gunner had been covering for Izaya, Shizuo was going to find him and shove his gun down his fucking throat.

Much to Shizuo's surprise, however, Izaya was not gone. In fact, Izaya was lying on the ground, completely still, and there appeared to be a small pool of blood forming around him. Shizuo's breath caught in his throat.

"No. No, no, no-" The words came tumbling out, and before he could stop to reconsider, Shizuo was dashing out into the open towards Izaya, the forgotten signpost clattering to the earth with a hollow sound. He grabbed the smaller man by the cuff of his shirt and easily slung him over his shoulder, quickly moving behind another building. Not quickly enough, though, as Shizuo felt another bullet pierce his lower leg. He barely even flinched, his mind entirely preoccupied with a singular thought.

Ignoring his own wounds, Shizuo put Izaya down roughly, more or less tossing him onto the concrete. His shoulder was wet, and Shizuo realized Izaya had bled all over him, ruining his shirt. Clenching his jaw subconsciously, each heartbeat sounding impossibly loud in his ears, Shizuo knelt down to check for any signs of life. He quickly took his sunglasses off and shoved them carelessly into his pocket, squinting to get a better look at Izaya in the dim lighting; a quick glance over revealed that he had been shot in the chest. Shizuo moved to take Izaya's pulse, but his hand stopped just short of the man's neck, as he finally noticed that Izaya was weakly grinning up at him. His mind reeled in a flurry of contradictory thoughts, and Shizuo felt simultaneously relieved and absolutely livid.

"Oh, fuck you. I did not just save your life, you worthless piece of shit." Shizuo snarled, thoroughly annoyed at himself for having panicked over the possibility of Izaya dying before he could be killed. What did it matter how the bastard died? Shizuo shook his head slightly, pinning his illogical actions on the adrenaline high, or the blood loss, or something. He started looking around desperately for a weapon- something, anything would do -to put an end to the flea's miserable existence.

"Ahh, Shizu-chan, I never knew you had a possessive streak~!" Izaya managed to say in a singsong voice, though the effect was somewhat ruined as he coughed suddenly, a bit of blood trickling down from his lips. Shizuo narrowed his eyes at him. Izaya certainly had a lot of nerve, to be putting on this obnoxious act even now.

"What a waste of your last words," Shizuo spat venomously, hauling Izaya up by his neck and slamming him into the brick wall of the building. Izaya, however, didn't even bother to struggle; his eyes had lost that insane gleam they normally held, and Shizuo suddenly found his own ferocity diminishing. The situation felt surreal. He had wanted this, hadn't he? Yet, there was something extremely disquieting about choking a man to death. It required... an extra bit of ruthlessness, on the murderer's part.

This was supposed to be the defeat of his arch-nemesis, someone he had hated passionately for years, and yet, as vaguely satisfying as it was, it also felt innately wrong on so many levels. Shizuo swallowed, reminding himself that if anyone deserved to die, it was definitely Orihara Izaya. He tightened his grip, and Izaya winced ever so slightly, a quiet, choked sound escaping his lips; Shizuo could feel Izaya's throat convulsing below his fingers as his body automatically fought to breathe.

His fist hit the wall a split second later, creating a sizable crater and no doubt breaking multiple bones in his fingers. Shizuo's other hand fell from Izaya's neck. Izaya leaned against what remained of the wall for support, taking a quick, ragged breath and coughing almost immediately afterwards. Wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his sleeve, Izaya peered at Shizuo wearily, just the slightest hint of amusement visible in his expression.

Shizuo said nothing.

"Saved, twice, in one day, hm?" Izaya murmured, between slow, laboured breaths. Smirking, he stuffed his hands into his pockets, and continued, "Well, actually, I'm not sure, if I'll, recover... so here's, a parting gift, just in case, I never, get, to see, you, again... Shizuo."

Temporarily surprised by the sound of his own name coming from the other man, Shizuo was caught off guard as Izaya took out his switchblade and plunged it into the blond's stomach in one swift motion. A cruel smile on his lips, Izaya began to twist the handle of the blade, and Shizuo cuffed him hard across the head, knocking him to the floor easily. Panting, Shizuo clutched at the knife instinctively, his hand becoming slick with blood. He fixed his gaze upon Izaya, fully expecting the man to get up and launch another attack, but Izaya didn't move. He was probably unconscious. Grimacing at the pain, Shizuo looked away, and glanced around the area; now that the adrenaline was wearing off, he was beginning to realize the danger he was in. If the man who had shot at them were to come after him now, Shizuo wasn't entirely sure he would make it out alive. He glared hatefully at Izaya, who was lying face-down on the pavement, bruised and bloodied. The bastard somehow looked more innocent and victimized than he had any right to. Wiping the blood off his unbroken hand, Shizuo slipped his phone out of his pocket and dialled one of the two numbers he knew. Then, balancing the phone between his shoulder and ear, he shifted awkwardly to retrieve the lighter and packet of cigarettes from his other pocket. As the phone rang on the other end, he lit up and took a deep drag, relishing the way the nicotine cleared his mind and calmed his nerves.

"Hey," Shizuo muttered, his voice hoarse. He cleared his throat a bit, eyeing the blade lodged in his abdomen. Blood was still seeping slowly from the bullet wounds in his leg, so he left the knife where it was, not wanting to risk bleeding out. "... Yeah, sorry for waking you up. I'm not doing too good. I got shot. Twice. Get Celty to pick me up, I'm near the corner of 57th and- no, you can't have a blood sample, fuck, I've lost enough blood already!"

Annoyed, Shizuo finished giving his location to Shinra, and abruptly hung up, not wanting to hear any more of the man's psycho doctor nonsense. He had a feeling Shinra might have heard the exhaustion and anxiety in his voice, and was only trying to cheer him up, but Shizuo really was not amused in the slightest. Shinra had the absolute worst sense of humour. Breathing out a long trail of smoke, Shizuo finished off his cigarette, and promptly put another one to his lips. He was beginning to lose his patience; Izaya's mere presence nearby was weighing down heavily on his mind. About ten impossibly long minutes passed before Celty arrived on the scene. The dullahan moved with haste over to Shizuo, looking appalled to see him drenched in blood, but stopped in her tracks when she saw Izaya. She looked frantically between the two injured men, and began typing on her phone at a blinding speed.

'What the hell?! What's he doing here?!' The screen read. Shizuo shrugged. 'Wait, you were stabbed too?!' Another shrug. '... Did he stab you?!'

Celty began pacing back and forth, and Shizuo pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "Celty, can you just take me to Shinra?" He said, struggling to keep the frustration out of his voice. Was it really so surprising that Izaya was here too? Who else could have done so much harm to him?

'What about him?' Celty bent down and gently rolled Izaya over onto his back. Her shock was somehow evident despite her lack of facial expression. She hastily typed out, 'He was shot in the chest?! Shizuo, if we don't get him some help, he really will die...!'

"So what?" Shizuo snapped, walking over to Celty's motorcycle with a slight limp, and sitting down on the vehicle. He felt disgusted with himself for having spared Izaya's life. Hadn't he been outraged at the very idea of Izaya dying to hands other than his own? Why couldn't he kill him, then? Shaking himself out of his circular thoughts, Shizuo noticed Celty looking at him disapprovingly. He gave the best excuse he could think of: "Anyway, it's not as if you have room for three."

At this, the shadows below the bike seemed to twist and turn, converging on one another until they formed something tangible... namely, a sidecar. Shizuo stared wordlessly. Surely, this was some sort of elaborate joke. The events of the evening were becoming unbelievable to the point where Shizuo thought he might wake up at any moment and discover that it had all been a dream. He was still processing the reasons why, exactly, he had faltered at that crucial last moment. Izaya certainly hadn't hesitated to attempt to kill Shizuo as soon as he was unguarded. In fact, he had probably purposefully said Shizuo's name to startle and distract him. But, it wasn't right to compare himself to Izaya in the first place; their standards for moral conduct were entirely different...

Celty waved her phone in front of his face, and Shizuo blinked, not realizing he had zoned out. 'I'm not leaving him.' There was an adamant finality to the words.

"... Fine. Do what you want." Shizuo finally said, much too drained, both physically and mentally, to argue. Celty nodded, and began awkwardly dragging Izaya over to the sidecar. She looked to Shizuo for help, but Shizuo merely stared at some interesting spot on the wall beside them, completely refusing to acknowledge what she was doing. Shaking her head in exasperation, Celty carefully willed the shadows around her to lift Izaya up and towards her bike.

'What happened to the gunman?' Celty asked suddenly, as she finally managed to secure Izaya in the sidecar. 'I didn't encounter any difficulties in getting here.'

"Guess the coward ran off." Shizuo said, shrugging again, and taking one last drag before putting out the cigarette stub with the heel of his shoe. Celty gave him a look. He stared back at her. "What?"

'Don't you think it's suspicious?' Celty folded her arms across her chest, looking concerned, and a little paranoid. She glanced behind them, as if expecting someone to lunge at them from the darkness, but there was no one else in the area.

"Yeah, I'd say people with guns are pretty suspicious," Shizuo mumbled monotonously. He was starting to feel a little dizzy, probably from the blood loss. Celty shook her head, and began typing something, before erasing it and retyping it. Finally, she showed him the screen:

'What I mean is, who could possibly be after both you and Izaya...?'


	2. Chapter 2

-Bulletproof-

Ah, thanks for the reviews and follows and whatnot. Fuelled by your support (and my own boredom), I managed to write this second chapter, in which my terrible, terrible plot device is finally brought to light...! I promise it will be at least somewhat enjoyable. Maybe.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Their trip back to the apartment took an unbearably long time. Shizuo tried to keep still during the ride, not wanting to exacerbate his wounds, but each turn they took had him shifting to keep his balance, and he could feel the sharp blade cutting deeper into him with every tiny movement; truthfully, it was getting on his nerves more than it was hurting him. It didn't help that the wind was blowing harshly against them, quickly cooling the blood that seeped into his clothes. He felt utterly chilled to the bone as they finally pulled up to the building, and miserable in more ways than one. Almost as soon as they'd left, Shizuo had begun to berate himself internally for having let Celty bring Izaya with them. This was turning into a night of bad decision-making, and Shizuo wished it would end already. But even after Shinra patched him up, he would still have to figure out what to do about the damned flea... Maybe if he was lucky, Izaya would fall into a coma and never wake up again? Shizuo chuckled quietly to himself at the thought, drawing Celty's worried attention to himself.

The elevator jolted slightly, indicating their arrival. They had made a terrible mess getting into the building, and Celty silently made a note to herself to wipe up the bloodstains later. She carefully manoeuvred Izaya's limp body out of the elevator, the sidecar rearranging itself into a wheeled stretcher as they moved. The door opened just as they'd gotten within an arm's reach of it, revealing Shinra, who was dressed in his typical white lab coat. He looked as energetic as ever, despite how late it was, but when he noticed his unexpected second patient, his chocolate eyes widened in horrified surprise.

"W-what-" Shinra began to splutter, but Celty pushed by him, dragging the stretcher along behind her. Hurrying to her side and babbling a string of incoherent questions, Shinra gestured wildly at Izaya, demanding to know why, when, and how this had happened. Shizuo followed them wordlessly into the small apartment, shutting the door behind him with a quiet click. He stood in the hallway, still a short distance away from the others, and his eyes finally fell upon Izaya's broken body; he had been doing such a good job of avoiding the sight, and a surge of anger rushed through him as he saw how deathly pale the other man was. Swallowing thickly, Shizuo averted his gaze, the events that had transpired within the past hour flashing through his mind vividly. He clenched his jaw, forcefully willing the images away, not having the energy to deal with them at that moment.

While Shinra continued to speak in half-sentences and non-words, Celty took out her phone and rapidly typed, 'Shinra, ask questions later. Get your kit, now.'

Shinra blinked a few times, startled by Celty's forwardness, but nodded stiffly and leapt into action, running to the bathroom to grab the necessary supplies and returning a moment later with a large case in hand. He urged Shizuo to sit at the dining table, and examined him critically, muttering worriedly after a few seconds, "Shizuo-kun... what happened?"

"Didn't we talk about this already over the phone? I got shot." Shizuo said bluntly, then fell silent. His gaze was fixed upon the shadowy stretcher behind the doctor. "Ah. And then that fucker stabbed me."

Biting at his lower lip nervously, Shinra tensed, afraid that anything he had to say about Izaya would send Shizuo into a fit of rage. Fortunately, Celty chose to interrupt before Shinra could speak, and flashed her phone before them both, while casting a somewhat apologetic look at the blond. 'Shizuo, please don't be offended by this, but I really think Shinra should take a look at Izaya first. He was shot in the chest, and, well, we all know you've survived worse.'

As if just realizing the truth in Celty's words, Shinra whirled around immediately to head towards Izaya, but froze halfway, and slowly turned back to face Shizuo. His expression was one of almost comical fear. Everyone in the room knew that Shizuo wasn't really going to stop him, but still, the doctor stared on with wide, hopeful eyes, willing Shizuo to give his permission explicitly.

"Tch." Shizuo closed his eyes in annoyance, turning his back to Shinra. That was as good as he was going to get. Shinra gave him a small bow, which went unseen by the other man, before he started digging through his box of medical supplies.

"Celty, put some pressure on Shizuo's wounds, god knows how much blood he's lost already." Shinra said, suddenly serious again, and tossed her a roll of gauze and a pair of latex gloves. He paused, then handed a small box of sterile adhesive strips to her as well. "You might need these to seal the wound," he explained quickly, already donning a surgical mask and his own pair of gloves. "Let me know if you need help."

Celty caught the items expertly, and after slipping on the gloves, she went to work without another second of delay, first by wrapping some gauze tightly around Shizuo's injured leg. The blood had already congealed a bit around the points of entry, and stained the bandages a dark red. Then, she turned her attention to the knife wound. The dullahan hesitated for a moment, seeing the blade still buried deeply in Shizuo's flesh; the blond gave her a stern look as he inhaled sharply, bracing himself, and Celty quickly pulled the weapon out, tossing it onto the table. Fresh blood began to gush from the jagged cut, and Celty hurriedly pressed some gauze to it to stem the flow, reaching for the sterile adhesives with her other hand. Shizuo lightly nudged her away, and rolled his shirt up to expose the bare wound so that she could properly apply the strips. Celty was able to do a fairly decent job, considering her inexpertise, but even after she had wrapped several layers of gauze around Shizuo's waist, his blood was rapidly saturating the area near the cut. Looking rather alarmed by this, she moved forward again to continue bandaging him, but Shizuo waved her away impatiently.

"Good enough," he mumbled, and began to roll his shirt back down, but soon noticed how awfully uncomfortable it was- wet where the wound had been, and stiff around his right shoulder, from... Izaya's blood. Furrowing his brows in irritation, Shizuo loosened his tie, then pulled the shirt over his head carelessly, the top two buttons popping off under the strain. He didn't mind; it was ruined already, anyway.

Celty took a step back to examine her handiwork. The bleeding was gradually slowing down. Shizuo nodded appreciatively at her, and Celty took that as her cue to leave. She shuffled over to where Shinra was hunched over the stretcher, spreading some sort of gel on Izaya's wound. That familiar, fur-trimmed jacket lay discarded on the floor, and Shinra had cut Izaya's shirt wide open for ease of access. Hovering beside him while he worked, Celty occasionally presented her phone to Shinra, who either nodded or shook his head in reply. Shizuo blocked Izaya completely out of his mind, and watched the scene between Shinra and Celty continue for five, maybe ten minutes, before his thoughts began to wander.

Admittedly, it unnerved Shizuo to think that he had gotten ambushed and badly wounded so easily. If whoever wanted him dead still wanted him dead- and there was no reason to think that they wouldn't, after such a blatant attempt -then his life just got a hell of a lot harder. Shit, and what was he supposed to tell Tom-san? Shizuo didn't want to risk putting his mentor and employer in danger, but he also didn't want to ask for an extended leave, unless it was absolutely necessary. He would just have to be cautious, at least until he found out who he was even dealing with... once he knew their identity, though, he'd track them down and find out how much _they'd_ enjoy getting riddled with bullets. Shizuo carefully leaned forward in his seat, propping an elbow up on the table and resting his head against his hand, happy thoughts of vengeance fluttering through his mind.

Mocha-coloured irises flickered downwards as he daydreamed, and Shizuo saw the switchblade lying before him, streaks of red running down the metal onto the wooden table below. Ah. Right. There was still the question of Izaya's involvement in this whole affair. Shizuo scowled. Izaya always had to complicate things; hell, it was probably a favourite hobby of the flea's, to take something and make it a thousand times more convoluted. Shizuo glared spitefully at the bloody little knife, as if it could act as a proxy and receive his wrath in full, while Izaya lay unconscious and possibly dying.

Dying. Once more, Shizuo found himself feeling strangely apprehensive at the word. The entire evening, his mind had been filled with contradictory thoughts about Izaya. Surely, it wasn't too absurd for him to have hesitated to kill the man; in spite of all the destruction he caused, Shizuo was certain he had never killed a human being before. And, as often as he considered more or less destroying the irritating people he met in his line of work, there was never really a true, murderous intent in his thoughts or actions. So there was absolutely nothing wrong with feeling uneasy about taking a person's life, right...? Still, this wasn't just some random, arbitrary person he was dealing with; this was Orihara Izaya, his tormentor, rival, and most bitter enemy. A frustrated growl rose from the back of Shizuo's throat. He didn't want to have to think about this; it was confusing, and he was exhausted. Shizuo wished he could simply rewind the events of the night, and avoid this tangled mess of conflicting opinions altogether.

'... Shizuo? You've been staring at that knife for five minutes. I'm worried.' The bright glow of Celty's cellphone screen invaded his field of vision, and Shizuo tilted his head up to see her standing behind him. Her helmet had been removed, and the swirling black smoke emanating from her neck seemed to curl and uncurl, plainly displaying her anxiety.

"I'm fine." Shizuo reassured her. Then, as if to prove the statement, he casually picked up the switchblade, his expression unfaltering as he wiped the blood off on a scrap of gauze. Examining it for a few final seconds, Shizuo breathed out a sigh that was louder than he'd intended it to be, and closed the blade in on itself, pocketing it while pointedly ignoring the concerned look Celty was giving him. He shifted his gaze toward Shinra, who appeared to be entirely focused on whatever he was doing. Glancing back at Celty, Shizuo lowered his voice as much as he could, and asked, "You don't mind if I smoke, do you?"

"I mind!" Shinra shouted, without looking up from his work. He waved a suspiciously bloodied hand at them. "Don't you dare breathe your toxic fumes into my home!"

'Let's just go out onto the balcony.' Celty offered, getting to her feet, then adding, 'I have some things I want to ask you.'

The autumn air outside was cold, and without a shirt on, it was absolutely freezing for Shizuo. A chill breeze whipped by them, and Celty noticed Shizuo quite obviously trying to suppress a shiver. Hastily, she drew the shadows beneath her up into her hands, and they wove themselves together to form a charcoal-coloured, wispy-looking sweater. 'Sorry about that,' She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly as she handed the garment over to Shizuo, who gave her a curt nod, and slipped it on immediately. It was surprisingly cozy for something made of an ethereal substance.

A little more comfortable, Shizuo wasted no time in taking out a cigarette and lighting it, bringing a hand up to shield the flame from the cool wind. As he drew in slowly, the warm smoke seemed to fill him and make him whole again. "So," he said, leaning against the railing of the small balcony, but taking care not to re-open his wounds.

'So,' Celty began hesitantly. She wasn't quite sure how to put this. 'Have you... made anyone really mad lately?'

Shizuo snorted in amusement, small clouds of smoke escaping his lips as he spoke, "I've lost track by now. Honestly, Celty, I don't have a damned clue as to who could have done this."

'Hm. Maybe Izaya would know...' She froze, realizing just a second too late that it might not have been a good idea to mention Izaya's name outright, but Shizuo didn't seem too bothered. While typing her next message out, Celty idly wondered what would become of Japan if there were ever to be a shortage of tobacco. 'Actually, it's even more worrying that they'd be after both you and Izaya. I mean, you two couldn't possibly have any common enemies, right?'

"Why not? Doesn't surprise me that we would've pissed off the same people on occasion." Shizuo shrugged nonchalantly.

'Well, practically everyone in Ikebukuro knows of the rivalry between you two. Anyone whom you've made an enemy of would be going to him for advice, not trying to kill him. And anyone he's made an enemy of would probably look to you for help.' Celty paused, looking slightly unsure of herself for a moment. 'Unless... there's someone looking to overthrow you both?'

Shizuo frowned. He tapped the ash off his cigarette off the edge of the balcony, watching the particles get whisked away by a gust of wind. "Overthrow? It's not like we're at the top of the food chain here."

'Maybe not,' Celty's typing was picking up speed; she seemed certain that she might be on to something. 'But what if someone was planning some kind of underground coup d'état? The first person to know would be Izaya. And the first person anyone would want to hire as protection would be you.'

"... And what makes you think I'd take a shitty-ass job like protecting some low-life coward?" Shizuo growled, sounding more than just a little insulted. He stood a bit straighter, and his fingers twitched as if they were about to crush what little remained of his cigarette.

'It doesn't matter if you'd actually do it or not! You see my point, don't you? Logically, it checks out, right?' Celty added quickly, relieved to see that Shizuo seemed somewhat placated by her words.

"Yeah, maybe. Aaah, this is such a pain in the ass to deal with...!" Shizuo grumbled irritably, putting the cigarette out on the cool metal railing. His hand suddenly tensed as he realized something, and he quietly added, "You don't think they'd bring Kasuka into this, do you?"

Celty took several moments to think of a suitable response. Shizuo was incredibly sensitive about anything where his younger brother was concerned. 'I doubt it, but you should probably warn him, just in case.' She finally settled for a straightforward reply.

Shizuo nodded solemnly, and without his signature shades in the way, Celty noticed that his eyes had a glassy and distant look to them, betraying his worry; it was an expression seldom seen on the man, and Celty suspected that Shizuo preferred to keep it that way. Somehow, he caught Celty peering at him, and flashed her a half-hearted grin; the dullahan returned the gesture with an inky huff, and turned to face the city. They gazed out into the vast urban expanse, falling into a comfortable silence. Shizuo lazily reached into his pocket for another cigarette, and his fingertips just barely brushed against the handle of the flickblade. Suddenly, his eyes snapped wide open, and Celty looked at him with alarm.

'Did you run out? We can go buy more! There's a convenience store just around the corner! I think?' She began to panic, but thankfully, Shizuo shook his head. He didn't appear to be any more at ease, though, and Celty stepped back uncertainly.

"How do you know the gunman was even after me at all?" Shizuo said, his voice deep, and a little strange sounding. Celty couldn't quite place it, and gave him a look of sheer confusion, black trails of smoke twisting hesitantly about her. Shizuo's gaze was determinedly glued to the ground as he continued his explanation, each word sounding more livid than the one before. "The first shot hit Izaya. Right in the fucking chest. The second hit me in the leg, and the third hit my leg again, when I went to haul Izaya's ass off the road. So, either this gunner's got fucking awful aim, or it was intentional."

Celty was about to ask why he'd gone back for Izaya at all, when she finally caught on. 'So, you're saying they might have just been trying to incapacitate you. Their real target was Izaya, and you happened to be in the way-' Celty stopped typing when she noticed that Shizuo was shaking, ever so slightly. What... what was going on? Was he laughing? Crying?! Celty reached forward to put a hand on Shizuo's shoulder, but stopped when he looked back up at her.

"That. Fucking. Bastard." Shizuo slowly ground out, and Celty immediately realized exactly what was on the man's mind. An awful feeling of dread loomed over her, as Shizuo went on, confirming Celty's suspicions. "I'm fucking sick of getting dragged into his stupid fucking games! Fucking hell, I should have known it was something idiotic like this, I should have killed him right then and there-"

'Shizuo! Calm down!' Celty hastily rushed in front of Shizuo, who had turned to re-enter the apartment. 'All of this is just speculation, you can't know for certain that it's true!'

"I'll take my chances," he snarled, and took a step sideways, but Celty followed, defiantly blocking his path. The tension seemed to ease slightly from Shizuo's frame, but his next words came out in a hauntingly cold whisper.

"Celty. Don't interfere."

Celty didn't answer. She continued to stand there, her arms outstretched before the sliding glass door. Shizuo stared at her a moment, then, he simply lifted her up by her arms, and carried her inside with him. Celty began to struggle, and Shizuo dropped her on an armchair before she could accidentally hit him. The disturbance immediately caught Shinra's attention, and the doctor jumped to his feet, running to Celty's side in a flash. Celty was unharmed, of course, but Shinra glared venomously at Shizuo nonetheless, his calm demeanour vanishing entirely.

"Shizuo. What is the meaning of this?" Shinra said, and his voice had risen tenfold in intensity, but not at all in volume. Shizuo ignored him, striding over to the where Izaya lay. "Shizuo!" Shinra shouted sharply, and this time, Shizuo turned to meet Shinra's glare with his own. Celty quickly rose from her seat and pinched Shinra's cheek hard, chastising him ruthlessly for his overreaction; the last thing she needed was for Shinra to aggravate Shizuo even more with his absurd personality.

In truth, Shizuo's gaze had softened ever so slightly when he saw how upset he had made Shinra. He shook his head briefly, putting the matter aside; apologies could be made later. For the time being, there was only one thing he had to do, and there was no longer any doubt in his mind that it was the right thing to do. He scowled down at Izaya, who had a breathing apparatus over his nose and mouth, and various monitors hooked up beside him. Shinra had certainly done a good job of keeping the worthless louse alive. Shizuo took out the switchblade that had been the cause of so many of his scars. What better way to end the bastard's life than with his own beloved weapon?

The knife was too small in his hand, and it nicked him across a finger when he flicked it open, clumsy in comparison to Izaya's usual flourishes. Izaya appeared even more helpless now than he had earlier in the night; at least he had been conscious, when they were out on the streets. But, maybe it was better this way. It was better if Izaya didn't see what was coming. It was even ironically appropriate, for the infamous informant to die unaware of his surroundings, unknowing of his fate.

"... Wait, Shizuo-kun, you're not really going to kill him are you?" Shinra asked, frowning as he took a few tentative steps towards the blond.

"And what makes you think that?" Shizuo snapped, gripping the blade in his hand tightly. "What makes you think, even for a moment, that I wouldn't take this golden opportunity to kill the fucking pest?"

"You've had plenty of opportunities," Shinra replied softly, and Shizuo smirked.

"Yes. I have." Shizuo said bitterly. "And I wasted them all. But I'm not going to make that mistake again."

"Shizuo, wait-" Shinra began, but Shizuo was done waiting. He lifted the blade up, contemplating for a moment what to do next, where to cut, slash, or stab; the stomach first, he decided, as retribution for the vicious wound Izaya had inflicted upon him earlier. But, just as Shizuo began to bring the knife down, he found his arm suddenly petrified in midair. A moment later, he realized it was being constricted, by the twisting, shadow-like material of the sweater he was wearing. The shadows had slid down to reach the floor, trailing off in sinewy lengths until they met with Celty's hand, which was clenched tightly into a fist. Shinra sank to his knees, visibly relieved, as Celty yanked hard on the shadows, causing Shizuo to drop the switchblade. The knife fell to the floor with an echoing clatter. Shizuo rebelled vehemently against the inky bonds, but the material refused to budge even an inch, and after a few tense seconds, he had no choice but to admit defeat with a last, indignant snarl. The room went silent, save for the quiet beeping of the monitors.

"Why?" Shizuo growled darkly, his voice filled with resentment. He had ceased his struggling, but his eyes were still glowing with a fierce hatred. Celty didn't reply, nor did she loosen her grip on the dark cables between them. Shizuo wanted to rip the entire place apart. "Answer me!"

'You answer me, Shizuo. I thought you were better than this.' Celty tapped out the words on her phone with one hand, not relinquishing her hold with the other.

"Better than what? Do you even realize how much damage this one depraved bastard has done to me?" Shizuo roared, seething with anger. How? How could they not understand? He glared fiercely at Celty, daring her to answer the question. However, it was Shinra who spoke next.

"Izaya might not exactly be a shining example of virtue, but he doesn't deserve to die, Shizuo. Not like this." Shinra sighed, adjusting his glasses with one hand, and picking up the discarded flickblade with the other. He grimaced a little, seeing the faintest line of red on the edge. It was still Shizuo's blood being spilled, even now. Shinra glanced up at the blond grimly. "Look, Shizuo, I know you and Izaya have some... issues. But he's our friend, too."

"... You've got to be fucking kidding me. You think Izaya- Orihara Izaya -is your friend?" Shizuo gaped at the brunet, who nodded without hesitation. Shizuo wanted to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of the notion that anyone, even Shinra, would consider Izaya their friend. "If there's one thing I'll ever admit to having in common with that flea, it's that we both have no friends."

"We're your friends, Shizuo," Shinra gently pointed out.

To this, Shizuo had no response.

There was an inherent paradox in being friends with both Heiwajima Shizuo and Orihara Izaya; it was like claiming to prefer both day and night, simultaneously. Yet, he could detect no hint of dishonesty in the doctor's words. Shizuo wanted to lash out and say that if they were really his friends, they wouldn't get in his way, but the idea sounded childish even in his own head. He craned his neck back to see Celty's reaction, and the dullahan merely shrugged in response. It was true, then. Shizuo wasn't sure whether he ought to feel grateful or betrayed; probably some awkward combination of the two, entirely at odds with one another, like everything else he'd experienced that night. His gaze shifted to Izaya, and a deep-seated hatred simmered inside of him, but it didn't boil over as it had before; there was now, strangely, a more important responsibility to uphold. It baffled Shizuo how such a simple statement from Shinra could soothe his temper so much, but there was no point in dwelling on it. He lowered his head, a long, tired sigh escaping his lips, and Celty finally took that as her cue to let go.

"Shinra," Shizuo said, as the pitch-black shadows around him melted away. Shinra nodded at him in acknowledgement. "You can manipulate people's memories." It was a statement, not a question. Shinra nodded again, uneasily. "I want you to make him forget what happened tonight."

"What? Why?" Shinra blinked owlishly. The request seemed like such a non sequitur.

"Don't ask questions, just do it." Shizuo snapped. "That's how you normally work, isn't it?"

At this, Shinra glowered a bit, but before he could speak, Celty cut in. 'Why don't you want Izaya to know you saved his life?'

Shizuo shot her a dark look, and Celty crossed her arms challengingly. "Spared. Spared his life." He corrected her, but she waved a hand dismissively at him. "There are a million ways the flea could use that one bit of information against me- I'm not even exaggerating. In an ideal world, he would be dead by now, and I wouldn't have to worry about this bullshit at all, but apparently, we don't live in that world."

Shinra looked at him blankly, seemingly unsure of how to respond. He opened his mouth, then closed it, knitting his brows together and fidgeting a little.

"Shizuo-kun, memory erasure is a very delicate procedure; it's entirely too risky for something as trivial as this..." Shinra trailed off as he noticed Shizuo towering over him, eyes brimming with a fiery rage. "U-um. More importantly, how would we explain to him why he was shot?"

Shrugging, Shizuo went to collect his bloodstained shirt and vest, apparently ready to leave. When he picked up the articles of clothing, however, he frowned, and wrinkled his nose. Balling the clothes up and tossing them into a bin marked with a biohazard symbol, Shizuo muttered, "This is your fault; you figure something out. I'm going home, this place absolutely reeks of that bastard's smell now."

He left before Shinra or Celty could get another word in, slamming the door a little more forcefully than was necessary. Shinra's shoulders slumped forward in exasperation. At least it hadn't come off its hinges. Then, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Shinra went to check over Izaya's vitals, and was pleased to find that he was still stable. Slowly, a small smile began to spread across his lips, and Celty peered at him with a faintly suspicious look.

'... Tell me you're not actually going to do it.' Celty pushed her phone in front of Shinra, who was already walking off towards the room where he kept all his questionable medical gadgets and contraptions.

"Hmm? Are you suggesting I shouldn't?" Shinra grinned, his eyes glinting with an animated light. "I've always wanted to try targeting something as specific as the memories of a single day; most of the jobs I get involve erasing a person's memory entirely... This is the perfect opportunity!"

'Shinra! You can't treat Izaya like some high school science project! What happened to memory erasure being a delicate procedure and all that!?' Celty protested, but Shinra was whistling cheerfully to himself, wheeling out a trolley of odd and vaguely dangerous-looking machines.

"That was just the ethical preamble all doctors have to give before they attempt a treatment. But don't worry, my dearest Celty! I'm a professional," Shinra said confidently. "There's no way I'd let anything bad happen to Izaya-kun~!"


	3. Chapter 3

-Bulletproof-

I apologize for the long delay. There were too many things I had to take care of first. Now, uhm, I must say that I'm not exactly satisfied with the way this chapter turned out... it ended up being a little too long and disjointed, but I didn't want to split it up into multiple parts, because if I did, it probably would have become too slow-paced and filler-like. Oh well. I'll just pretend it was intentional, to make up for my absence. Ah, also, happy Halloween.

Disclaimer: Nothing is owned by me.

* * *

It was mid-morning when he first woke up. He could hear faint sounds- a television, perhaps, and the scuffling noises that slippers made against hardwood flooring. Feeling terribly disoriented, he opened his eyes blearily, but found the room to be much too bright, and immediately squeezed them shut again. A surge of vertigo hit him, and he groaned, a coarse and rumbly buzz which startled him; it did not sound at all like a noise he could have made. There was an uncomfortable tightness in his chest, but every sensation almost seemed to flow into one another, and he stilled, focusing instead on the soft, liquidlike texture of the sheets below him.

"Oh, you're finally awake! I was starting to get worried, it really shouldn't have taken this long..." A voice that was too loud carried itself into the room. It continued in a systematic drone, of which only a few words were recognizable: "Stable... going to lower... dosage..."

He dared to open his eyes again, carefully squinting so as not to overload his senses; he could barely make out the figure of someone standing over him. Sluggishly, he attempted to sit up in order to get a better look, but even the slightest movement seemed to require a tremendous amount of effort, and he gave up quickly. His eyelids slid shut, plunging the world around him into a fluid darkness.

"Ah, it's all right, you can go back to sleep, you'll probably wake up again... Haha, that was a joke, don't worry!" There were some more shuffling sounds, and then the room was filled with white noise once more.

He drifted in and out of sleep easily, until finally, he awoke with a shudder; he had dreamt that he was falling. Having opened his eyes instinctively, his gaze swept across the room, and as things began to come into focus, he dazedly realized that he was lying in bed, and not tumbling through the air. The ceiling and walls were painted a dull orange by the sunset, and long shadows fell upon the crisp bedsheets he lay under. Gone was the peculiar fluidity that everything seemed to hold before, and he began to notice small discomforts all around- the clothes he was wearing felt rough to his hypersensitive skin, and his body seemed to ache all over. His throat was parched, and he attempted to clear it, but only succeeded in bringing about a violent fit of coughing. He heard a door open, and someone hurried to his side, gently aiding him into a sitting position, which was painstakingly difficult, as his muscles felt as if they were weighed down by lead.

"Here, drink this," A small glass was brought up to his lips, and he drank greedily; the water was possibly the best thing he had ever tasted, and he felt overwhelmingly disappointed when the glass had been emptied. "How are you feeling, Izaya-kun?"

After a brief moment of consideration, his gaze slid over to the person next to him, and he opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped, and frowned. He felt terrible, that much was obvious; what was more disconcerting, however, was that he could not remember what had happened to him. His eyes widened slightly as he realized something even more disturbing: he had no recollection of anything that had happened to him- nothing whatsoever. Where was he? Who was this person next to him? And most importantly of all, who was he?

"Izaya...?" The brunet cast a worried look at him, and he stared back, panic evident in his expression. "Are you all right? Do you feel nauseated? Dizzy? Feverish?"

"I can't remember," he croaked, his voice sounding scratchy and uneven, and he suppressed another cough.

"Oh. Um, well, you were shot, you see. Yes. But fortunately... um... Celty was nearby! So she saved you! Yes, it's all thanks to Celty, ahaha..."

"No," he shook his head ever so slightly.

"Yes, it's true! It's all true! Everything I am saying is true!"

He let out a weary huff of air. "I can't remember... anything."

"It's okay, because- wait, what?" Shinra froze mid-sentence. After inhaling a deep, slow breath, he said nervously, "Izaya-kun, that was a joke, right?"

"You keep calling me that," Izaya murmured quietly. "That's what my name is, right?"

"Ahaha, you are absolutely hilarious! Oh, gosh, Izaya, what would the world do without you?" He stopped to adjust his glasses. "Seriously though, tell me that was a joke."

Izaya pressed his lips into a thin line. "Do I look like I'm joking?" He shot a glare at the other man, who shook his head quickly, the colour draining from his face as he hastily retrieved a small notebook from the pocket of his coat and began flipping through its crisp pages. Although neat and perfectly spaced, the handwriting was completely illegible, and Izaya quickly gave up trying to read the doctor's notes. Shinra continued to look desperately through his records and re-examined readings on various devices, and though Izaya had a million questions rushing through his mind, he remained silent, unsure of where to begin even.

His gaze shifted from Shinra, who was growing more pale by the moment, and wandered idly about the room, taking in his surroundings properly. Izaya noticed at once that although he was hooked up to what appeared to be professional quality medical equipment, he was quite obviously in someone's bedroom, and not a hospital. And, though the brunet beside him was dressed in a clean, white labcoat, there was nothing else professional about his appearance; he was even wearing a pair of slippers. Izaya felt as if he had awoken from a dream only to enter another, and had no way of telling whether he was truly awake or not. After all, what made one reality more likely than the other?

The sound of jangling keys startled the two of them out of their private thoughts, and a moment later, a woman dressed entirely in black- save for a brightly coloured and oddly shaped motorcycle helmet -entered carrying a bag full of groceries. She dropped the bag by the door, and swiftly made her way to Izaya's side, more or less ignoring Shinra entirely.

'Oh, thank goodness you're all right! We were both so worried!' She typed the words on her cellphone, and held the screen up for Izaya to read. He glanced up at the shaded visor of her helmet, but it was perfectly reflective, and he could not see her face at all, so he simply nodded blankly at her. 'I'm just going to put the groceries away. Tell me if you need anything!' He nodded again, and then she was gone.

"... Um, don't tell Celty that you have amnesia, okay?" The doctor whispered as soon as the door was closed, and Izaya glowered at him. "I'm sure this can be treated! Trust me!"

"It's not like I really have any other choice, do I-" Izaya's voice trailed off, and he stared, petrified, at something behind the other man. Shinra turned, and his heart sank in despair as he saw what Izaya had seen: Celty had taken off her helmet.

'I made some ceylon tea! Would you like some lemon or cream to go with it?' Celty tapped the message out with one hand as she carried the tray of teacups over to the bedside table. 'Izaya? Are you feeling okay?'

"W-what..." Izaya stammered, and Shinra was shaking his head wildly behind Celty, gesturing for Izaya not to say anything. He swallowed anxiously. Perhaps he really was dreaming. "Ah, um. I'm f-fine."

Celty took another step closer to him, and Izaya couldn't help but flinch; it was unsettling, to say the least, that this figure before him was missing a head, but the eerie wisps of black smoke that emanated from her neck were outright creepy. Upon seeing Izaya's odd reaction, Celty whirled around to face Shinra, who was looking away from the scene entirely, focusing his attention on his notebook instead. Celty tapped her foot expectantly, but Shinra was determinedly pretending not to have noticed. Suddenly, the shadows in the room all flared up at once, writhing and twisting like live flames; they almost looked as if they were going to leap off the walls and violently lash out at them. Izaya started, and covered his mouth with a hand to muffle a small gasp. Immediately, the shadows ceased to move, and Celty grabbed Shinra by his arm, dragging him outside of the room and slamming the door shut loudly. Snippets of a one-sided conversation came in through the door:

"It'll be okay! I'm pretty sure it's reversible, see, look at these numbers! ... Well, it's not like it's my fault that this happened... Aaaah, Celty, that hurts! Q-quit it! I'll apologize...! Noooo, don't-"

There was a dull thud, and Izaya winced. Moments later, they returned, and much to Izaya's surprise, Shinra did not look nearly as bad as he expected him to be. He supposed the doctor was just... prone to theatrics. Izaya's gaze shifted from Shinra to Celty, and he could not help but stare at her; Shinra cleared his throat with a quiet cough to regain his attention, and then announced, "Izaya, I am really, really, sorry for erasing your memory." Celty gave him a sharp nudge. "A-and I promise I'll help you recover in whatever ways I can!"

"You _erased my memory_?" Izaya narrowed his eyes at Shinra. So that was what he was referring to when he said 'reversible'. Shinra gave a barely noticeable nod. "... Why?"

"Well, it was a request from... a client." Shinra said uneasily, glancing at Celty to see whether or not his reply was acceptable. The dullahan was pacing back and forth anxiously, but didn't interrupt to correct him. He continued, "Although, I had no intention of wiping out your memory completely! It was... um... an accident?"

Izaya gave him a look of disbelief, and Celty seemed equally fed up as well, for she stopped her pacing, and Izaya could have sworn that the black mist about her neck grew several shades darker. Shinra raised his hands in defense. "Look on the bright side! You should eventually regain your past memories, and then everything will be normal again... it's just a matter of time!"

'Time which he doesn't have. You're forgetting the reason Izaya was even in this mess to begin with; someone was after his life.' Celty pointed out, and Izaya blinked, glancing down at his bandaged chest. He had been so stunned by the loss of his memory that he had overlooked his physical injuries, and as soon as he'd taken a moment to think about the wound, it began to ache stubbornly again.

"Oh, right. You probably shouldn't go outside. Well, actually, it would be better if you went home." Shinra mused aloud, and received another elbow to his ribs."Ack-! Celty, now you're just being mean! B-but of course, you can stay as long as you like, Izaya-kun!" He quickly amended the comment before Celty could jab him again.

"I would go home, if I knew where I lived," Izaya mumbled sulkily, his eyes downcast as he leaned back against the thin pillow behind him. Shinra and Celty glanced at one another, each daring the other to give in to what was possibly the most adorably heart-wrenching expression they had ever seen on Izaya.

"... Aaahhhh, Izaya-kun, I'm so sorry! This is all my fault!" Shinra wailed, falling to his knees and taking his glasses off to wipe away a tear. He gave a small sniffle, before outright bawling, and burying his face in Izaya's lap. Izaya was suddenly grateful that the blankets were quite thick, for the clothes he was wearing would certainly have not withstood the torrent of tears coming from the doctor. Although, now that he thought about it, Izaya noticed that his clothes were a size or two too small for him, and probably belonged to the other man to begin with.

"... Is he always like this?" Izaya mouthed silently at Celty.

'Unfortunately, yes. In all seriousness though, we don't know where you live either. You weren't exactly a very... trusting person.' Celty typed out, while Izaya patted Shinra on the head awkwardly. A few muffled sobs came from the brunet.

"Couldn't you call my relatives, or friends, or something?" Izaya suggested hopefully, and Celty paused to consider his words, but then shrugged.

'I don't exactly know how to get in touch with your sisters, and since you didn't have your phone on you when we found you, I guess you're out of luck. Actually, I'm a bit disturbed by how little we know about you, and we're probably your closest friends. Unless you've been keeping even more secrets from us.' Celty paused. She would not have been at all surprised if Izaya had a whole lifetime's worth of secrets locked away in that mind of his- a mind which he no longer had access to, she reminded herself. 'Well, anyway, like Shinra said, you can stay here for now. Everyone's already looking for the man responsible for this- ah, for shooting you, I mean.'

Izaya sighed quietly; there really was no other option than to wait. He glanced down at the weepy doctor, and then back up at the dullahan. Shinra and Celty. What strange people they were- and he wasn't quite sure the latter was even human. Izaya supposed that of all the situations an amnesiac could end up in, at least this one wasn't boring. In fact, it cheered him up a little, to think that he could just as well have had some vague form of accidental brain trauma- how dully tragic that would have been! But no, he was important enough that someone had actually paid for his memory to be wiped. How did memory erasure even work? It seemed rather... shady. Then again, the fact that he was obviously not hospitalized after being grievously wounded was quite sketchy as well. And on top of that, he had apparently been the target of an assassination attempt... Izaya hummed contemplatively. "Can I ask why there was someone out to kill me in the first place?"

'To be honest, If I had to guess, I'd say you probably messed with the wrong crowd and got in over your head,' Celty folded her arms across her chest. She decided not to mention Shizuo's involvement, as it really wasn't relevant to their immediate predicament, and it would have taken much too long to explain all of the details.

Blinking, Izaya considered Celty's words carefully. "Was I a criminal?" He inquired, and Celty noted with a mixture of amusement and exasperation that his tone sounded much more curious than concerned. Perhaps some things would never change.

'Hmm. Well, you were a self-proclaimed "information dealer", and I'm pretty sure your "business" didn't fall under the category of legal.' Celty shrugged. Izaya turned his head slightly to hide a small grin, and Celty looked at him questioningly. 'Something funny?'

"Ah, not really," Izaya said, falling back into a neutral expression as he examined a loose thread on the end of his sleeve with feigned interest. His lips twitched upwards involuntarily, though he did not give up trying to mask his smile as he murmured, "Well, I guess I'm glad that I was such an interesting person."

"You still are!" Shinra interjected, finally standing back up, and wiping his face with the sleeve of his coat. "I'll fix this! Just you wait! If you're not a hundred percent Orihara Izaya by the end of this week, I'll... I'll have to do something drastic!"

* * *

A week came and went too quickly. While Izaya was physically recovering quite quickly, he did not appear to be making any progress at all with his memory. Shinra had shown him their old high school yearbooks, claiming that his memory recovery could be jump-started by familiar images or events, but none of it seemed to click. He and Celty had both been remarkably tense when Izaya glanced over a photograph of Shizuo, but there was no noticeable reaction, and he thumbed through the rest of the pages without much interest.

Worst of all, Izaya quickly grew terribly, terribly bored. After he had regained enough strength to move about, he was constantly hovering from room to room, going through Shinra's things (but having enough respect for Celty not to touch any of her belongings) and fiddling with his medical equipment. Most of the time, Izaya put things back the way they had originally been, but he would occasionally leave a doodle or a message on the printout screen of a device. He considered his magnum opus thus far to be changing the setup screen of a new heart rate monitor to read 'Please take glasses off to continue', which had actually caused Shinra to remove his glasses, forcing him to squint at the tiny instructions on the screen for several minutes before he finally heard Izaya snickering quietly in the doorway, and realized what he was doing. On the third day, Shinra sat him down in the living room and shoved a game controller in his hand, determined to exact vengeance upon Izaya within the context of a 2-dimensional fighting game. It took all of three rounds for Izaya to scrape together a win, and after that, he simply could not be beaten, and Shinra lost round after devastating round the entire afternoon. Then, later that night, when Shinra had to leave the apartment to see a client, Izaya sneaked the gaming console out and beat all of the doctor's high scores.

Two days later, Shinra was on the verge of snapping. "Izaya has got to go!" he huffed, storming over to where Celty was busily typing away on her laptop.

'What? Are you still mad about the high score thing? I'm actually kind of impressed,' Celty typed absentmindedly, while scrolling through forums. There was more gossip about "Kanra-chan's" disappearance than she had expected; of course, she figured Izaya's online presence would be pretty widespread and influential, but she hadn't been anticipating nearly as huge of a reaction. It was all nonsense, wild speculations about having run off with a secret lover (and some claiming to be said secret lover), or having been kidnapped by human traffickers (and some claiming to be said human traffickers), or worst of all, having been abducted by aliens. Celty shivered.

"... and it took me the longest time to learn that combo- Are you even listening? Ceeeel-ty!" Shinra whined, and Celty turned to face him, exuding a huff of black smoke. "Orihara Izaya is ruining my life! He messes with my equipment when I'm not looking, and he eats my snacks, and I can't even beat him at my own video games! It's worse than that time we tried raising a cat!"

'You can't seriously be complaining about this. Whose fault is it that he's even lost his memory in the first place?' Celty scolded, and continued before Shinra could timidly accuse Shizuo, 'It's your fault, Shinra! I told you not to do it, but would you listen? No, you wouldn't.'

"B-but, Celty..." Shinra said, lower lip quivering. Celty gave him a stern look, but she did feel a little sorry for him; she knew that Shinra had done everything to the best of his abilities, and that he was not one to slip up so easily- it was awfully unlucky for Izaya to have been the victim of such a mistake, though. Shinra continued to gaze at her with misty eyes, and it was more distracting than Celty liked to admit. The dullahan eventually gave up on trying to get anything done, and got up from her chair to give Shinra a quick hug. He was cheered up immediately, and for a few moments, refused to let go, forcing Celty to give him a sharp poke in the stomach. Coughing, yet smiling a little, he pulled over an office chair and collapsed into it as Celty drew back and returned to her own seat.

'If he's really being such a nuisance, why don't you just tell him?' She suggested several minutes later, and Shinra blinked in surprise. 'That's what I thought. You always forget the most obvious solution. Now, shoo.'

Shinra grinned sheepishly, and quickly left to find Izaya, who must have somehow sensed what was coming, for he immediately dashed into the bathroom and proceeded to take the longest bath possible. Much to Celty's relief, however, Shinra chose to go to bed early, rather than return to her to complain some more. She was probably finding the situation more entertaining than she should, but it had honestly been so long since she'd seen Izaya act so... innocently. As troublesome as he was being (for Shinra alone, Celty noted with a fair amount of pride), it was still a far cry from the trouble he usually got himself into, and in some senses, it was a refreshing change.

A private message from Mikado popped up in the corner of her screen, and Celty paused her forum-surfing to answer.

_Tanaka Taro: Hey, all the rumours and gossip aside, do you know what happened to um... Kanra?_

_Setton: Ah. I thought you might ask. Well, it's a bit of a long story..._

_Tanaka Taro: ! So you do know!_

_Setton: Haha. Yeah..._

_Tanaka Taro: Well?_

_Setton: Aah... Kanra-chan is... recovering from an injury._

_Tanaka Taro: ... A serious injury?_

_Setton: Yes. But he'll be fine. I think._

_Tanaka Taro: You can trust me, Celty-san._

Celty leaned back in her seat tiredly. She really didn't want to get Mikado involved in whatever it was that they were dealing with.

_Tanaka Taro: I'm guessing it wasn't an accidental injury._

_Setton: ... Good guess._

_Tanaka Taro: And you probably don't know the identity of the attacker?_

_Setton: You're two for two._

_Tanaka Taro: Celty-san, let me help._

_Setton: I don't think you want to get into this._

_Tanaka Taro: I'm not a child! Plus, if Kanra is out of commission, where are you getting your info from?_

Celty's fingers hovered above her keyboard. He actually had a point; they really had no clue where to start, and with the Dollars' sheer numbers, their information net would be expanded considerably. It couldn't possibly take long before someone turned something up, and something was much better than nothing.

_Setton: Okay. Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you._

_Tanaka Taro: Yatta!~_

_Setton: Here's the rundown: he was shot in the back- the bullet pierced through his chest but he's recovering. Shizuo was there too, and was shot twice in the legs. No witnesses, and we can only speculate about the motives._

_Tanaka Taro: Heiwajima-san!? ... A double hit?_

_Setton: That's what I thought at first too- but then, why just the legs?_

_Tanaka Taro: Ah, you're right... hmm, that's really suspicious..._

_Setton: Indeed..._

_Tanaka Taro: Should I make a global announcement on the forums about this?_

_Setton: I wouldn't do that just yet; after all, it's possible that they could be a member of the Dollars too._

_Tanaka Taro: That's true... Well, I'll let you know if I find anything, then. Give Kanra my best wishes._

_Setton: I will. Goodnight._

_Tanaka Taro: 'Night!_

_-Tanaka Taro has left the chatroom-_

Celty tapped out a light rhythm on the desk with her fingertips as she contemplated what to do next. She hadn't heard from Shizuo since that night, which was somewhat of a relief; it was looking more and more likely that Shizuo had really just been unfortunate enough to have been at the wrong place and time, but Celty refused to abandon her initial theory. There were just so many unanswered questions... A glance at the clock revealed that it was well past midnight, and she stretched languidly, setting her laptop to sleep mode and shuffling towards her bedroom, ready to turn in for the night. Izaya passed her in the hallway, and gave her a quick nod and a grin; Celty paused to acknowledge his greeting, and then stepped into her room for a moment, before turning on her heel and following him to the kitchen.

'Can't sleep?' She asked, as Izaya rifled through the fridge, eventually discovering a slice of a dessert roll that Shinra had hidden behind the milk carton; it was clearly intended to be saved for the next day.

"Mm, I guess not," Izaya said, shrugging slightly. He grabbed a fork and took a seat at the dining room table, stabbing at the roll halfheartedly, and just as Celty began to suspect he wasn't actually going to eat any of it, he took a tiny bite. Celty sat across from him, and watched idly as he began poking at the dessert again. "Ne, Celty-san, it's already been a whole week, and I haven't remembered anything yet..." Izaya began, and took a particularly fierce jab at the miserable cake, which was already barely recognizable as such. "How do I know you guys aren't just messing with me?"

Startled by the accusation, Celty quickly typed, 'We would never do that! I... I mean, you just have to trust us...'

Izaya peered at the screen, and gave an amused snort. "It's easy for you to say that, isn't it?"

'Izaya, I personally brought you here after you were injured-'

"Ah, and then after patching me up, your deranged roommate figured it would be okay to fuck with my head, since I was conveniently unconscious?" Izaya hissed maliciously, clasping his hands together in a mock gesture of adoration as he added, "I'm so glad I have friends like you two~!"

Celty stood up, the legs of her chair scraping against the floor loudly. She tapped out a message, and braced both her arms against the table as she flipped the phone around to show Izaya the screen, 'I seriously doubt you have anyone better.'

"... Celty-san, if I was such a terrible person, why did you save my life?" Izaya whispered, his eyes glinting.

Celty reached for her phone in a hurry to reply, 'When did I ever tell you that you were a terrible person?'

Izaya raised both eyebrows, and Celty belatedly realized that she had used the wrong choice of words entirely. She quickly amended, 'I couldn't just leave you! I know that there's no context for this, given your amnesia, but I have my reasons. That's all I'm going to say about it, whether you believe me or not.' The inky wisps around her were thick and tremulous. For a long time, Izaya merely stared at the screen, and when he finally looked back up at Celty, she was startled to see a cheerful smile across his lips.

"Okay, I guess you guys weren't lying after all~" Izaya said, while leaning back dangerously far in his chair. Celty stood motionless, stunned by the sudden shift in his mood and tone. Almost immediately, Izaya gave her a wide-eyed, innocent look of concern. "Was that a bit too much? Ah, sorry! I just had to make sure."

'Oh... Um, It's fine. Goodnight, Izaya,' Celty replied eventually, and made her way back to her bedroom, hearing Izaya call out a cheerful goodnight behind her. There was a certain unease that lingered in her mind after that brief talk. It was unnerving to the dullahan that she couldn't tell when Izaya was acting, and when he was being genuine. She wondered if she ever really could; over the years, Celty had more or less seen Izaya play every role possible, and flawlessly at that. The immense popularity and influence he had gained as his online persona was a testament to how easily he could manipulate others, by pretending to be someone that he wasn't.

Though he claimed to have no recollection of his past, in a lot of ways, it seemed as though Izaya was already very much himself.

The slot of light beneath her door dimmed, and she could hear footsteps along the hallway. By then, it must have been late enough that one could call it early if they so chose to, but Celty did not fall asleep until much later. The next morning, the dullahan awoke to a horrified yell, and she dashed outside her bedroom without a second thought, only to find that it was just Shinra, who had discovered the pathetic state of his mangled dessert roll. Celty went back into her bedroom and shut the door before Shinra could follow her inside.

"He didn't even eat any of it!" Came the muted groan of despair from beyond the door.

'Please let me go back to sleep. Also, I saw him take one bite.' Celty opened the door a crack to show Shinra the cellphone screen, then promptly shut it again.

"You watched him murder my dessert? And you didn't do anything about it? How could you! Ceeeeeel-ty!"

Celty sighed, black trails of smoke looming over her like thunderclouds as she changed out of her sleeping clothes, knowing it would be impossible to get back to sleep. It was far too early in the day for this, and she took her time in the shower, not at all wanting to deal with Shinra's antics just yet. However, as she finally entered the kitchen, fully dressed and prepared for the worst, Celty immediately noticed that Shinra was no longer upset about his dessert. In fact, he didn't appear to be upset at all, and was talking quite animatedly to Izaya. Approaching the two of them sitting at the dining room table, she took one glance down at the plate between them and paused in bewilderment. Izaya was peeling apples, and was skillfully cutting the skin of each individual slice to look like a small rabbit.

"Celty! Look, aren't these cute? They're apple rabbits!" Shinra exclaimed, and Celty just stared. Shinra wilted a little. "You don't like them? I was going to ask Izaya to teach me how to cut them like that..."

'... Are you 10 years old?' Celty asked incredulously.

"Now now, Celty-san~!" Izaya laughed, and Celty shot him a suspicious look. He seemed much more relaxed than he had the night before, and generally a lot less distant and reserved. Celty inevitably concluded that he really _had_ been worried that she and Shinra were scheming behind his back... Celty made a note to herself that perhaps she ought to have a talk with Izaya about trust issues one day.

As he finished cutting another apple into wedges, he explained blithely, "Shinra-kun was so upset over his cake roll that I actually felt a little bad about it, so I thought I should make it up to him somehow."

Shinra looked moved nearly to the point of tears by Izaya's confession, and Celty glanced from him to Izaya, who merely smiled at her. Just as she was about to leave them be, however, she noticed something peculiar. Hesitantly, she typed out, 'Izaya, where did you get that knife?'

"Hm? Oh, this? It was in a drawer, and... I thought it looked cool." Izaya replied, playing with the blade a bit by flicking it closed, then open, then closed again. "I made sure it was clean, though, if that's what you're worried about?"

"O-oh, I didn't even notice-" Shinra stuttered, when he realized what Celty was getting at. He pursed his lips, eyeing Izaya critically. "Hmm. You still haven't remembered anything?"

"What do you think?" Izaya retorted a bit snappishly, and Shinra cast an uneasy glance at Celty. The dullahan shrugged her shoulders, and they both looked apprehensively at Izaya, who gave a small huff of impatience. "Is there something I'm missing here?"

'Maybe it's just a coincidence, but that blade belonged to you, Izaya,' Celty finally explained, and Izaya seemed surprised by the comment. He looked to the flickblade, then back up at Celty, with hopeful eyes. She eventually caved. 'Um. I guess you can keep it.'

Izaya flashed her a wide grin, and went back to slicing apples. They had somehow lost their appeal to Shinra, who wandered off dejectedly after a short while, leaving Izaya with a plate of too many slices that were quickly browning. Bored, he began to cut the slices into little cubes and strips. So, this blade had belonged to him. This was actually quite a surprise, although it did fit quite nicely into the arch of his palm, so he supposed it was a practical thing to own. But, Izaya was more interested in the state he had found the weapon in: Shinra had left it in a cluttered drawer, as if he'd put it there in a hurry and then forgotten about it. And even more curiously, there was a residue of dried blood around where the blade met the handle. At first, Izaya had thought he had stumbled upon some dark secret of Shinra's- something he really, really shouldn't have seen. And as much as he knew he ought to simply put it back and pretend he had never seen it at all, he just couldn't.

And then he had devised a plan to gauge Shinra's reaction to seeing the knife. Of course, Izaya hadn't really expected Shinra to be so impressed by a couple of apple slices, but at least Celty had been more observant. How peculiar, for it to have ended up being his own possession! Izaya hummed a little tune to himself as he continued to methodically cut the cubes into smaller cubes, and the strips into thinner strips. He wondered whose blood it had been, on the blade. Was it his own? It was more likely to be someone else's. But the rusty residue of blood had stained the very edges of the handle, which meant it hadn't just been a shallow cut. Had he... killed somebody?

The blade suddenly slipped in his hand, which he hadn't noticed was trembling, and drew a thin line of red across his fingers as it clattered to the table. A few drops of blood fell onto the plate, and Izaya blinked in surprise before quickly walking over to the sink to run his hand under the tap. The cool, running water made the cut sting a bit, and he carefully dried his hands with a napkin, his mind still mulling over the mystery of the bloody blade. It didn't actually bother him that he may or may not have killed someone; it was even a little exciting. He wondered if that should bother him. It didn't. Sighing quietly, Izaya picked up the plate of brownish apple bits and brushed them into the trashbin, rinsing the plate off and leaving it on the counter. With nothing to do, he wandered over to the sofa and draped himself across it, flipping through television channels idly with the volume muted.

He wished he could remember something about himself- anything at all. Occasionally, he would catch Shinra or Celty giving him a long, considering look, and he suspected it was because he had done something that he would have done in the past. It was rather depressing that he did not make any of the same connections. Shinra had been particularly hopeful when they had looked through the yearbooks together, but there wasn't a single face or scene that Izaya had recognized, save for his own. Izaya had scrutinized the small, low-resolution photographs of his younger self, and desperately wondered what kind of life he had lived. There was a strange hollow feeling about not knowing one's own identity. There was nothing to associate with, no feelings of belonging or of want. Certainly, Shinra and Celty had been kind enough to him; frankly, he had been surprised that Shinra was putting up with all his dumb practical jokes. The doctor probably felt guilty, Izaya decided, and he ought to feel that way. Nevermind the morally questionable act of manipulating someone's memory- didn't he claim to be Izaya's friend? It was all rather paradoxical...

It wasn't until Celty nudged him in the shoulder that Izaya realized he had dozed off. Startled, he sat up too quickly, and grimaced when it made his chest ache sharply; his wound had mostly healed, but he still had to take care not to stretch or move around too much.

'Ah, sorry! I wasn't sure if you were actually asleep. Lunch is ready.' Celty apologized quickly, and Izaya nodded. 'It's just some take-out sushi, I hope that's okay.'

"S'fine," Izaya murmured, still a little disoriented from having been woken up. He wandered over to the wooden dining table, where Shinra was already seated.

"I saw on a newsfeed that gang activity has been up lately, especially in Ikebukuro." Shinra said between mouthfuls of rice, and when no one replied, he clarified, "It ties in with. You know. All this."

'Perhaps we should ask Shizuo if he's seen anything suspicious lately.' Celty tilted the screen away from Izaya, who only rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Celty-san, don't you think I should know about whatever it is that you're not telling me? It does seem to concern my life, and, you know, I thought you might like to preserve that a little longer." Izaya remarked coldly, and Celty winced.

"It's not really about you, Izaya," Shinra interjected, and Izaya raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, okay, it sort of is. But it mostly isn't!"

"I'd prefer to have the whole picture, whether it's really relevant to me or not." Izaya said, as he and Shinra simultaneously reached their chopsticks for the same piece of sushi. He glared darkly at Shinra, who blinked down at the piece, then back up at Izaya, and grinned. "What are you smiling about?"

"Ah, nothing, you can have that piece." Shinra chimed, picking up another piece and covering it in a gratuitous amount of soy sauce. He had a self-satisfied smirk on his face, and Celty wanted to smack him; it had been Shinra's idea specifically, to bait Izaya with ootoro as a final test... which Celty had thought was just plain ridiculous. Exactly a week had passed, and though Izaya had not recovered any of his memories per se, they both had to admit that at the very least, he only tended to act more and more like his former self. The event with the knife that morning had felt so familiar that it had even surprised Shinra, and in a stroke of genius (as Shinra would later claim to have had), he had instructed Celty to order takeout from Russia Sushi, but to only purchase _one piece of ootoro_.

Shinra peered at Izaya over his glasses, his eyes glinting as he said, "It's your favourite, right?"

Izaya blinked. He supposed, if he had to choose a favourite, it would be ootoro... "Ootoro is everyone's favourite," Izaya countered, huffing in irritation as he placed the piece onto his own plate. Shinra grinned even more widely. "And don't change the topic! What are you two hiding from me? It's obviously about the hitman who was after me, or at least about the night I was shot, so I think I deserve to know."

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, before anyone could speak another word, there was a heavy knock at the door; Celty automatically volunteered to answer it, since she didn't actually need to eat, and was quickly getting tired of Shinra's smug expression. Izaya glared daggers at Shinra from across the table, willing him to say something, but the doctor remained happily silent, still much too pleased with having had his prediction validated, and continuing his meal without so much as a glance at Izaya. A ragged groan interrupted their one-sided stare-down, and they both turned to face the hallway.

There were many thoughts going through Izaya's head when his gaze fell upon the blood-drenched man standing beside Celty, but none of them rang out so clearly as a single word did: _run_. Izaya found himself jumping to his feet instinctively, but in a moment of confusion, had hesitated too long, and before he could take a single step, he found himself being hoisted into the air. From such an angle, he could quite clearly see over the sunglasses the blond was wearing, and Izaya found himself staring into a pair of coffee-coloured eyes that gleamed with an intensity he didn't think was humanly possible. He recognized those eyes; he had seen them somewhere before, and that thought alone was enough to send an electrifying thrill of excitement down Izaya's spine.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Shizuo demanded, giving Izaya a brief, rough shake. Izaya knew that what he should be feeling was fear, but a small grin came to his lips instead. Shizuo scowled fiercely at him, "This was your fault, wasn't it?!"

Izaya dared to glance downwards briefly, and saw that the blond was wounded rather badly and was bleeding from his side, back, and shoulder. It was a wonder how he was even able to stand, let alone lift Izaya up with a single arm. Izaya managed to give a little shrug, despite the uncomfortable position he was in.

"Shizuo! Wait, I can explain! It wasn't Izaya!" Shinra yelped, waving frantically at Celty to do something. Celty, in turn, waved frantically at Shizuo to put Izaya down.

"He's right, it wasn't." Izaya added rather unhelpfully, and Shizuo looked as if he wanted to tear Izaya to pieces, but miraculously, dropped him back into his seat and stalked over to the sofa instead. Izaya felt his heart pounding hard against his chest, and peered giddily at the trio from his seat in the dining room. Shinra was quietly muttering something to Shizuo while dressing his wounds, and Celty would occasionally interrupt with a flash of her phone. Everything Shizuo said was, of course, in an audible and very angry growl:

"... No, I wasn't really paying attention, and the next thing I knew, I'd been shot... Yes, in broad daylight, does it look like night to you right now? Now tell me why the hell the flea's here in your apartment... Are you kidding me? How the _fuck_ could you mess something like that up?! And, how do you know he's not just faking it? ... I can't fucking believe this. Shinra. Do you have a deathwish or something? ... No, I did _not_ ask for this! Don't you fucking pin this on me!"

Their conversation continued on for some time, and Izaya could see Shinra cringe visibly several times whenever Shizuo threatened to kill him; he realized after a few moments that as enraged as Shizuo appeared to sound, they were mostly empty threats. At last, Shinra appeared to be finished with treating Shizuo's wounds, and quickly ran off to the bathroom to wash his hands and sterilize his tools for the next twenty minutes or so. In the meantime, Shizuo lit up a cigarette, not bothering to go outside solely to spite the doctor, whom they could all tell was outright avoiding him.

The room was thick with tension, and Celty cast a quick glance over at Izaya, who waved merrily at her in return, causing her to sigh black fog. Izaya smothered a grin, still coming down from the adrenaline rush. A vague feeling of familiarity that permeated the scene, and Izaya's mind was racing to figure out why; he briefly recalled seeing a few photographs of the blond from Shinra's yearbooks- but they hadn't struck him as being remarkable in any way, at the time. Frowning, he discreetly peered over the back of his seat at the two of them once more. Shizuo had removed his cobalt-tinted sunglasses, and was speaking to Celty in a low tone, when he noticed Izaya watching them, and abruptly paused to shoot him a look of pure loathing; it was then that Izaya realized, with a mixture of eager anticipation and awe, that it was not Shizuo's eyes that had seemed familiar to him, but rather, the unrivalled fury which they contained.


End file.
